Sexual Appeals in Advertising: The Role of Nudity, Model Gender, and Consumer Response

This study examines whether sexual appeals, specifically nudity (body coverage) and model gender, shape consumer responses to advertising. Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, we test whether these factors operate as peripheral cues when argument strength is minimal (fragrance advertising). In a 3 (model gender: male, female, both) × 2 (clothing: swimwear vs. outdoor wear) between-subjects experiment (n = 195), participants viewed one of six real advertisements from the same luxury fragrance brand featuring the same professional models. Nudity level did not affect attitudes toward the ad, brand attitude, or purchase intention. By contrast, ads depicting both a male and a female model produced small but reliable omnibus improvements in brand attitude and purchase intention relative to single-model ads; attitudes toward the ad were unaffected. Mediation tests indicated that these differences were not explained by attitude toward the ad or brand attitude, consistent with peripheral-cue processes rather than the classic ad → brand attitude sequence. Practically, the results challenge the assumption that “more nudity” is persuasive and suggest that, in low-argument contexts, gender-balanced model composition can be a modest, context-dependent cue. Advertisers should prioritize brand/category fit, pretest in the intended media environment (and locale), and expect incremental rather than large effects.